HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronauts spent seven hours in space
on Saturday to finish preparing the International Space Station
for its next addition -- Europe's first permanent space
laboratory.

Station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan
Tani kept the orbital outpost on schedule to meet NASA's
ambitious goal of completing construction by 2010, when the
U.S. space shuttle fleet is due to retire.

The Columbus laboratory sits in the cargo bay of space
shuttle Atlantis, which is on a Florida launch pad and set to
lift off on December 6.

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Tethered to the station, Whitson and Tani spent much of
their time passing the second of two 300-pound (136-kg),
18.5-foot (5.6-metre) pallets "like a high-tech baton in a
relay race" to its new position, a spokesman for the U.S. space
agency said.

The pallet routes coolant lines to the station's Harmony
module to which the Columbus lab will be connected in December.
Japan's Kibo Experiments Module is set to be attached to
Harmony in February.

Saturday's excursion 215 miles above Earth was the second
spacewalk this week to connect Harmony to electrical, cooling
and data systems aboard the station. Whitson and Tani relayed
the first pallet into position on Tuesday.

Ground controllers told Whitson and Tani coolant was
flowing into Harmony about an hour after they completed the
connections.

"We couldn't be more pleased to have a good install(ation)
of Harmony," Tani said.

Tani and Whitson also carried out an inspection of a balky
rotating joint that turns one of the 240-foot (73-metre) solar
power wings on the station for best alignment with the sun.

Earlier this month, astronauts found what appeared to be
metal filings in the joint that was preventing it from
operating efficiently.

Tani said he saw some damage to parts of the joint and took
pictures for NASA engineers to study.

"It sure looks like metal-to-metal damage," he said.

Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, who remained inside the station
while Whitson and Tani worked outside, may join Whitson in a
spacewalk to repair the joint for the solar power wing after
Atlantis shows up next month.